new tank questions/ plumbing

M

marcpuffer

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hi I just moved to addison and i finally got my new tank
an acrylic 150 gallon 60*24*24 and it is drilled in the bottom with two over flows
two holes in each overflow and i have a 21l*18w*21h sump and i was wondering how i should plumb this thing i have no clue what to do and i think the holes are 1inch so how big of a pump would i need and what kind of equipment should i use

I am going to get an ams g3 for the sump and use the excess area to make a fuge so where can i get the acrylic to make the baffles and what kind of stuff do i use to bond the acrylic

thanks
 
Hi Marc,

We need specific dimensions regarding the holes in your tank. Do they have bulkheads currently? If so, what size is the opening in each one? If they are 1", the most each one can drain is 600gph. You mentioned you have 4 holes in the tank. So two would be drains, and two would be returns (water going back up to the tank.

Whatever pump you select, it must not exceed how much the tank can drain, or it would overflow. So if you have two 1" drains, the tank drains 1200gph max. Your return pump doesn't need to move that much. It could push up 600-800gph, and that would be plenty.

You should read this page about sumps: http://www.melevsreef.com/what_sump.html

You can get acrylic from Home Depot, Lowes, Regal Plastics, or Allied Plastics. The last two companies are listed at the bottom of this page: http://www.dfwmas.org/lfs.html

If you are bonding acrylic to a glass tank (for the sump), you need to use GE Silicone II without mold inhibitors - so read the tube carefully to make sure you have the right kind as there are two versions. If you are bonding acrylic to acrylic, you'll want to use Weld-On #4 or #16.

The plumbing can be done with PVC and PVC fittings, or SpaFlex tubing. The latter is more expensive, but allows you to make curves instead of rigid fittings.

You'll also want to make durso standpipes inside the tank to keep the overflows quiet. The first page I linked you to has a direct link to the durso standpipe article. It takes 5 minutes to build one with $5 in parts.

Read all you can, you've got an adventure ahead of you.
 
Not a lot. 1" can handle 600gph, so 3/4" might be around 300gph, but that is a guess. Anyone else know for sure?
 
the rubber gasket? on the bulkhead does that go on the inside of the aquarium where the water is or the outside
 
where is a good place to pick up valves for my plumbing and what is the best valve to use the gate valve or ball valve or any other suggestions thanks
 
Home Depot or Lowe's should both have ball valves. For throttling back a return pump, a ball valve is fine. To my pleasat suprise, the Lowe's by me had tru-union ball valves (Quick release connectors on both ends of the valve so you can shut the valve off, an easily remove one end of the other for maintenance)...

Gave valves are for instances where you need more fine control over the flow, such as in a protein skimmer where you need to made very fine adjustments to get it tuned just right...
 
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